Hint of sexual rivalry as Nasty Nick is replaced

By Matt Born

12:00AM BST 21 Aug 2000

MEMORIES of "Nasty Nick" were fading fast in the Big Brother household yesterday as his replacement settled in to life under the spotlight.

Claire Strutton was chosen from 20 possible candidates to replace Nick Bateman, who was evicted for cheating, and it soon emerged that she was used to complicated domestic arrangements. Yesterday, during her first full day on the voyeuristic gameshow, Miss Strutton, 25, told her housemates that she had a father who was married to her aunt, a newborn nephew/stepbrother she had not yet seen, and an uncle in jail for drug smuggling.

Miss Strutton, a florist from Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, said she was given such short notice of her selection that she had not had time to see her stepbrother, who was born to her father and aunt on Saturday afternoon. Her parents, Robert and Gail, were divorced; she lived with her mother and brother, while her father had married her mother's sister, Zoe, 37.

She was more reticent on the subject of her uncle, Richard George Strutton, who is serving a seven-year jail sentence for smuggling cannabis. Miss Strutton's arrival has had an immediate impact on the five remaining housemates. A Big Brother insider said Craig, a builder from Liverpool, and Tom, an Irish computer consultant, both seemed "enlivened" by the presence of another attractive female.

Mel, whose flirtatiousness has irked her female housemates, was moved to give Tom a massage for the first time after regularly asking him to massage her. The programme's producers admitted that they hoped the marked reversal indicated the start of an intense rivalry.

Miss Strutton, whose hobbies include playing the piano and double bass, describes herself as a "scatty, hedge-hopper mind, moody at times, abrupt when necessary but also level-headed". She has had cosmetic surgery to enlarge her breasts, has a pierced navel, is allergic to wheat and professes to "hate liars". She has a boyfriend of 10 years, but said it was an on-off relationship.

Miss Strutton was one of three people who were interviewed last week to replace Mr Bateman. They were chosen from the original shortlist of 30 - 10 of whom made up the original household. Channel 4, which received 20,000 completed applications from would-be contestants, said it had chosen a female replacement to improve the "sexual chemistry". There are now three men and three women.

Miss Strutton, who has signed a confidentiality agreement to ensure that she does not talk about the outside world, arrived at the purpose-built Big Brother house in East London at 8.20pm on Saturday.

She carried food, wine and cigarettes in with her - all gifts from Big Brother, which has acknowledged it will be very tough for Claire to integrate into the household, set up five weeks ago. To give her a chance of winning, she will not be eligible for eviction in her first week.

A Big Brother spokesman said: "The five housemates inside were very nervous. They cleaned the house from top to toe."